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But a red card protest was postponed when Pulis signed Lee Hendrie on loan and by the time they got to Elland Road there were seven new signings in all.

And from sitting 21st in the second tier, this was lift-off – a spectacular announcement that the club had entered a new era.

Pressure on Pulis to attack

Stoke fans' moods had lifted thanks to the arrivals of Hendrie, Salif Diao and Rory Delap ... and so had expectations. Columnist Simon Lowe pondered before the Leeds game whether Pulis could meet them.

"It will be interesting to see," he wrote, "how Pulis sets his team up to play at Elland Road, a ground at which on his previous appearance there as Stoke manager, he brazenly sent eleven players out with no ambition to score, merely to keep a clean sheet, which they duly did, using his familiar 'Stoke can't expect to compete with teams like Leeds because of the wage bill' argument.That no longer applies.

"This could prove to have been a significant week in the history of the club. Perhaps this truly is the start of the 'Golden Age'."

We asked for the cavalry ... we got the magnificent seven!

“What we asked for was the cavalry," wrote Martin Spinks in his match report, “what we got was a swashbuckling swagger led by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Gary Cooper.

"Or was it the Magnificent Seven (new signings) riding shotgun into wild west Yorkshire and sending the natives fleeing?

"There was even a hint of the Good (everything Stoke), the Bad (everything Leeds) and the Ugly (everything Neil Sullivan) surrounding such an astoundingly one-sided outcome."

It was Stoke's best win in 143 games up to that point under Pulis, their best win in 44 visits to Elland Road, their first goals at Elland Road in six attempts since 1986 and their first win at Elland Road in nine attempts since 1981.

Hendrie's early free-kick – a right-foot curler over the wall and into the keeper's top right-hand corner from 20 yards – launched Stoke towards the dreamland destined to follow.

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Andy Griffin then combined with Hendrie on the left before firing between Neil Sullivan and his near post – and Sullivan was equally helpless four minutes later when Hendrie's right-wing corner was powered home by Danny Higginbotham.

Referee Trevor Kettle seemed to take pity when he awarded the hosts a penalty for captain Michael Duberry's invisible tugging of Richard Cresswell's shirt ... but Robbie Blake's spot-kick was parried away by Steve Simonsen.

“In those situations there's no-one better than Simmo," said Duberry. “He must study people's penalties like he studies the horses."

'We want four!'

The away end responded with cries of “We want four!" ... and Ricardo Fuller duly obliged by crashing a cross-shot past a shellshocked Sullivan and into his far corner from the left-hand edge of the box, his first for the club.

By the end of the season, Leeds would be down. It would take until the end of the next one for Stoke to win promotion – but it hadn't even taken until the end of the afternoon to realise that they were heading in the right direction.

Pulis plays it down

"It's a smashing win and the kind of result that can change the whole perspective of the football club," the capped crusader told the Sentinel after the game.

"But no way in a million years can I turn it around as quickly as some people would like. Some people want to listen, some don't. The fact is, this club lost 22 games last season and were bottom six in terms of losing goals, so it needs time. We are not going to get carried away. It's going to take a year to get the spirit right in the dressing room and get the right quality players in.

"That's our task this season. To get everybody working together when you are under pressure – the way Leeds put us under pressure for a while – and then you come out winning matches."

Tony Pulis celebrates the 4-0 win at Leeds with his back room team. (Image: Phil Radcliffe)

Player ratings on a landmark day

HOEFKENS: Surprisingly re-installed at right-back and eventually subdued the home side's biggest threat in Eddie Lewis 7

GRIFFIN: There's a touch of Denis Irwin in his appearance and style – not least because he keeps switching between right and left-back and that goal was definitely reminiscent of the Irishman in his pomp 8

DUBERRY: Easiest return to his old stamping ground. Even he must have felt a little sorry for those barracking Leeds fans he eventually silenced 7

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HIGGINBOTHAM: Looked pretty secure and more at home in central defence, while his free-kick against the bar, followed by his 62nd-minute goal, suggests hidden depths to his repertoire 8

DELAP: Quality crossing, particularly in the first half, as he slotted in smoothly on the right-hand side of midfield for a successful debut 7

RUSSELL: Arguably his best display of the season with some vital defensive work in his own and middle third when it was still a contest, while his energy in central midfield allowed Diao to save his legs for a near 90-minute work out 8

DIAO: Long-legged intruder on most of the midfield action, while his eye for a pass opens up previously untold possibilities 8

HENDRIE: His early free-kick was a reminder (as if any were needed) of the flashes of Premiership class he brings to proceedings. Worked hard without the ball when required 8

SIDIBE: Easy to overlook his usual contribution as he helped soften up the centre of a dodgy Leeds defence in the earlier stages of the afternoon 7

PERICARD: Another to give Leeds the collywobbles and came close to a second just before the break 7

Substitutes

FULLER (Pericard, 66): Demoted to the bench to presumably save him for Sunderland tomorrow – and warmed up for that one with a terrific strike past a shellshocked keeper.

BRAMMER (Diao, 82): Thrown on to maintain the control his side had enjoyed for most of the afternoon in the midfield skirmishes.

CHADWICK (Hendrie, 85): Entered late on to run at stricken bodies left strewn across the battlefield by his victorious colleagues.